Brazil: A strike by Brazilian truckers that has caused shortages at service stations and supermarkets across Latin America's biggest country entered a seventh day with no immediate solution in sight. Anger over rising diesel prices led truckers to begin striking last week and they've vowed to continue striking until the Government commits itself to lowering those prices. The cost of diesel oil has gone up in recent months as world oil prices have risen and the Brazilian real has weakened against the US dollar. Truck owners also want some tolls reduced. The Folha de S. Paulo newspaper said that the strike has resulted in nearly US$3 billion in losses. Police have cleared 132 of the 529 blockades truckers erected across the country, allowing trucks with emergency fuel supplies to reach army facilities and police stations. One proposal being discussed is a 10 per cent discount on diesel prices for at least 60 days with the federal government compensating state-run oil company Petrobras for ensuing losses.
Poland: Polish media are reporting that a fire broke out in the building where a prominent Polish opposition MP lives, and the politician says he fears he could have been the target of an arson attack. The Gazeta Wyborcza daily reported that the fire broke out where Krzysztof Brejza lives in Inowroclaw, a city in north-central Poland. Brejza, who belongs to the centrist Civic Platform party, is considered one of the most effective opponents of the populist ruling Law and Justice party. For months, state-run television has run critical reports about him. Brejza is reported as saying the fire spread through walls where gas pipes ran, creating the threat of an explosion had neighbors not noticed the fire and extinguished it.
Colombia: Polls have closed in a first round of voting for president that drew millions of people to the ballot box. Voters now await the results in a polarising contest that pit candidates for and against the nation's peace process against one another. The race is the first in Colombia's recent history in which candidates rallied voters on issues like the economy instead of how to defeat leftist rebels. Rebels with the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia signed a contentious peace accord with the Government in 2016. Front-runner conservative Ivan Duque is pledging to make "corrections" to aspects of the accord including to amnesty terms for former guerrillas. He is leading but would need more than 50 per cent of the vote to avoid a run-off election in June.
United States: Former President George H.W. Bush was hospitalised in Maine after he experienced low blood pressure and fatigue, a spokesman said. Jim McGrath, a spokesman for the 93-year-old Bush, said he was awake, alert and not in any discomfort. He said Bush would spend at least a few days in the hospital for observation. Bush, who has a form of Parkinson's disease and a history of pneumonia and other infections, was hospitalised in Houston on April 22, the day after his wife Barbara's funeral, for an infection. He remained hospitalised for 13 days.
